SAS® Collaborative Planning Workbench

Automate consensus planning with a structured forecasting workflow.

Develop a consensus forecasting strategy by resolving gaps prior to the S&OP process. Import and consolidate internal and external demand forecasts. Automatically create a consensus plan using a weighted statistical method. Use what-if analysis to easily adjust statistical baseline forecasts. And improve forecast accuracy by following a structured process based on data and analysis, rather than just judgment.

Benefits

Forecasts based on true demand.

While demand-driven forecasts are inherently better than forecasts based solely on historical shipment and replenishment data or primarily on a supply/production-oriented approach, SAS goes a step further. Our solution combines all these approaches, enabling you to generate highly accurate forecasts that provide significant, interrelated benefits to your business.

Better communication, faster planning.

Only SAS recognizes the special process and workflow issues associated with consensus forecasting. And only SAS has an analytically sound process for addressing them – one that we've built into our entire suite of forecasting and planning offerings. That means you get the same administrative capabilities and look and feel across all our forecasting and planning solutions.

Measurable value added to your forecasting process.

Forecast value added, or FVA, compares the accuracy of a statistical forecast (generated by forecasting software) to the accuracy of an analyst’s manually adjusted forecast. SAS Collaborative Planning Workbench computes the FVA for each separate set of forecast processes, events and activities.

Integration with other SAS forecasting solutions.

We incorporated our high-performance forecasting and optimization analytics into our user-oriented forecasting and planning workbenches, then integrated them into a smoothly functioning suite of supply-chain management tools. An integrated forecasting suite means that the data moves seamlessly between applications and users, making collaboration easier and faster.

Screenshots

Collaborative Planning Workflow

Forecast Variance Analysis

Forecast Process Monitoring

MAPE Comparison

Features

Collaborative forecasting. Provides an automated, interactive application and set of forecast comparison screens and reports to facilitate creation of a consensus plan to drive the S&OP process.

Consensus business process workflow. Provides form templates for establishing consistency across the enterprise.

Integration with the SAS for Demand-Driven Planning and Optimization suite. Enables demand forecasting and inventory planning team members to collaborate more easily because data moves seamlessly among a tightly integrated suite of supply chain forecasting and planning tools.